March 2010 Field Letter

Written on February 24, 2010

Dear Friends,

First, I want to thank TCG board members Dawn Chiang and Angel Ysaguirre for penning the last two Field Letters and giving us some insight into their work and passion for the theatre. If you missed their letters, check them out on our website.

January marked the first year into the new Presidential administration and it’s been a wild year on a number of fronts. The President and First Lady came out early and often with a public embracing of the arts, demonstrating their support through their own participation in arts events—as well as through outreach to the arts community. Theatres, for instance, have been invited to the White House regularly to perform and arts leaders have been invited to sit with members of the administration, including the domestic policy council. This picture is decidedly different from what it was.

With this administration, we have the potential for progress on a national sense of the arts as a powerful component of the nation’s identity and overall vitality. Over the last several decades, local and regional communities have gained significant traction in demonstrating and advocating for art’s integral role in the economy and for the public good. As reported a in past writings, one visible product of this kind of regional advocacy came when the state of Minnesota passed a constitutional amendment authorizing a sales tax to support hunting and fishing, clean water and the arts. It took some serious political savvy and extraordinary activism in order to make that happen in 2008. And the financial benefits are accruing to Minnesota-based arts organizations and their communities as we speak.

But until now, the conditions have not been ideal for creating a similar broad arts consciousness that unites local and regional stories into one broad national narrative about the impact of artists in their communities. Now we have a President, who admittedly has his hands full, but who speaks publicly about the integral nature of the arts on a national level. It’s a moment in time when we, at least theoretically, can be moving the needle forward.

Often cited about our national efforts to build support for the arts is an absence of consistent, compelling and perhaps even catchy (so as to be remembered) messaging. To that end, NEA Chair Rocco Landesman has come out with a new campaign: Art Works. It is a slogan that is meant to have a triple entendre effect. Art Works, as in the arts mean jobs; Art Works, as in works of art; and Art Works, as in art works in revitalizing and strengthening communities—large, small, urban and rural. There’s an NEA comment page where you can tell your stories about how art works. The NEA is backing up their Art Works slogan with a new initiative, Our Town: A Uniquely Arts-Based Initiative to Strengthen Communities through the Arts, that encourages cultural development in communities across the nation.

But messaging really is only a part of the challenge. There is also the need to act upon big ideas and strategies and to put advocacy efforts behind them. We’ve had some extraordinary supporters in Congress, who have been willing to “go to the mat” for us. But as the Minnesota case shows—who would have thought about putting the arts with fishing—it’s more than political savvy. That action demonstrates a masterful seizing of value from the somewhat unlikely pairing of separate community issues. It exemplified the idea that arts activity is not siloed, but is integral to the overall quality of life in a community.

TCG is a founding member of the Performing Arts Alliance and ideas are often being pursued at that table—as well as through our association with the Cultural Advocacy Group, a larger consortium of arts service organizations. We were able to collaborate across the performing arts disciplines to get the arts included in the Recovery and Reinvestment Act. While the funding wasn’t nearly enough to support the number of organizations that could put that money to good use and save jobs, it was a step forward. And there are undoubtedly other opportunities that we will be able to identify and work toward, with the help of a strong performing arts community and your willingness to be advocates.

But let’s go back to reality for a minute. When the President released his budget, the news was mixed.

1) The President proposed the same allocation as he did last year for the NEA, which translates into a $6 million decrease. The American Masterpieces program has been replaced by a new $5 million line-item initiative called Our Town that encourages the role of the arts in economic revitalization.

2) The budget would consolidate Arts in Education funding at the U.S. Department of Education into a new, broader program, Effective Teaching and Learning for a Well-Rounded Education and there are concerns that this could lead to a diminished focus on arts education.

3) President Obama renewed his proposal to limit the value of charitable deductions for the wealthy. The proposal would limit the tax break to 28 percent for couples earning $250,000 (or individuals earning $200,000) for their itemized deductions, including gifts to charity. Arts advocates are concerned that it may dampen giving at a time when arts organizations are already reeling from the economic downturn.

4) And some good news, the President proposed the Small Business Jobs and Wages Tax Cut, which would provide tax credits to not-for-profit and for-profit employers to encourage them to hire new employees and increase wages. The proposal would do two things: it would provide employers a $5,000 tax credit against their payroll taxes for every new worker they employ in 2010 and it would reimburse employers for the social security payroll taxes they pay on real increases in wages for existing employees.

A Few Notes For Your To Do List:

Check out this report: Speaking of messaging, earlier this year, the Fine Arts Fund of Cincinnati published a report called, The Arts Ripple Effect: a Research-Based Study to Build Shared Responsibility for the Arts. If you missed it, you might want to take a look. After much testing of the kinds of language used to promote the arts, they came upon certain words and concepts that are widely used and largely ineffective. Even the word “arts” is too generic to capture the imagination of the people. (i.e.: as the report states, people can get into dogs or cats or horses but not necessarily mammals). Similarly, talking about “the arts” doesn’t create much individual buy-in. Talking about the ripple effect of the arts is something that people can latch onto. For instance, they can resonate with the idea that the arts have the ripple effect of creating energy in neighborhoods, for instance.

Read about the TCG National Conference: Our National Conference this year is going to be great! The Chicago host committee is working hard and has some very creative ideas for welcoming the national theatre community. Once again, we're offering a special deal that was very popular last year. Theatres that pay for two or more registrations can add one additional representative, age 35 or under, for free! We are also offering a discount for senior artists.

Review this update on NPAC: The 2008 National Performing Arts Convention took place in Denver and drew 4,000 artists, administrators, educators and business people to discuss common issues for the sector and to develop recommendations for how to prioritize areas for action. From the participants’ recommendations and subsequent conversations, five priorities were identified: advocacy, artists, arts education, diversity and technology. During the first half of 2009, a multi-disciplinary and geographically diverse group of taskforces met on these topics and gave recommendations for action. Out of these conversations, two common threads emerged:

1) The need for a centralized resource for collecting information and sparking conversation on each of the five topics

2) The need for additional opportunities to convene, either electronically or in person

In response, NPAC is currently developing a new website that will have curated content on each of the five priorities. The website is being developed by Design Brooklyn. We are also seeking a curator for each of the five priorities and welcome any recommendations you have. Our intention is to bring the site live in April.
Additionally, several of the national arts service organizations are collaborating on ways to create virtual content and virtual participation opportunities in their individual National Conferences this year. We are also in the process of integrating various social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, as we bring these two initiatives forward. Stay tuned for more information on the new NPAC website, as well as “Virtual NPAC.” You can follow us now on Twitter at @NPAConvention.

Tell your staff and friends about TCG Individual Membership: Here's a reminder that we offer a $15 special rate for the staff of TCG member theatres, who can join as individual members and receive their own subscription to American Theatre, quarterly updates on issues of importance to the field and other benefits. And for individuals—who are not part of a single institution—who express interest in getting more involved in the national theatre community, feel free to encourage them to join TCG or purchase a membership for someone else—it's the perfect gift for the theatre-lover!

Until next month, all the best,

Teresa Eyring
Executive Director